“Going forward, we will not accept advertising from state-controlled news media entities,” the company said. “Any affected accounts will be free to continue to use Twitter to engage in public conversation, just not our advertising products.”

Twitter said the new policy did not, however, apply to “to taxpayer-funded entities, including independent public broadcasters”.

What are the protests about?

Many thousands of Hong Kongers have been protesting since March against a proposed government bill that would have allowed extradition from the territory to the Chinese mainland.

Critics of the bill argued that it would undermine the Hong Kong’s judicial independence and could be used to target those who speak out against the Chinese government.

The bill was suspended in June after a series of large demonstrations. But protests continued and have now morphed into a broader movement demanding democratic reform and an investigation into alleged police brutality during demonstrations.

Last week, thousands of protesters flooded Hong Kong Airport’s terminal buildings, leading to clashes with police and the cancellation of hundreds of flights.

Organisers say 1.7 million people turned out at the latest mass-rally on Sunday. But police put the figure much lower at 128,000, counting only those at an officially sanctioned protest.